There's been very little, if any, actual Cassel bashing, Mansquatch so you missed even less than you think. There's just been a lot of talk about the merits of the QBs, which seems pretty natural since the Vikings haven't declared a starter.
I still haven't seen the game yet. I listened to it though and saw few highlights though. Cassel hit Patterson with a beautiful deep throw early in the game and they're looking like a combination that could worry defenses this year. I think the biggest story of the game was that the defense put a lot of pressure on the Chiefs QBs and better yet, came up with some INTs. Of course, they also allowed the Chiefs to drive into scoring position before making a couple of those picks but it's not something the Vikings have done much in recent years so it's an encouraging sign. Munnerlyn and Greenway came up with the two red zone INTs against Smith. Prater had a pick against Chiefs backup Tyler Bray a little later.
Reisner had a couple of TD catches from Bridgewater and I'm guessing he really solidified his chances of making the team as a backup TE.
Well, that's that. Cassel will be the starter. Personally, I think it's the right choice for now. He's playing well in this new offense.
Plus it gives a promising future QB like Bridgewater a chance to watch and learn. Keep in mind, Bridgewater has acknowledged that Cassel has been very helpful with advice and sharing his NFL experience.
It's good to know these two guys can compete, yet work with each other as well.
The vikings pass rush is the real deal I'd say. Everson Griffen is going to have a monster year. They have struggled to "get home" and complete the sacks but they're causing problems on a high percentage of plays.
For the first time in years, I feel like the coaching and scheme is working extremely well. Yes you can see guys without the talent still make misplays but no longer am I like "wow, we just gave that up for free" due to playing 8 yards off on 3rd and 3 or anything like that.
The RB's look decent in the passing game, even though Peterson didn't play at all.
The D really buckles down in the red zone, even though we don't play a "bend but don't break" style anymore, that's probably just more the nature of football as the field gets smaller. TURNOVERS!
Shariff Floyd, Harrison Smith, Xhavier Rhodes, Cordarelle Patterson, and a bunch of young guys just keep getting better and better.
Jerome Simpson still weak and no real "deep ball" threat, let's a DB completely box him away from the ball to pick off a Cassel Pass.
That's what i can remember off the top of my head.
NextQuestion wrote:It is amazing to me that this franchise has not bothered drafting a real MLB the last couple of years. That is going to be a huge weakness.
To me, it says they really are more interested in drafting for talent than need, especially early in the draft. Obviously, they try to address both and QB is a bit of an exception but i think they've probably gone into the last few drafts thinking they might take an MLB and then passed on the position when they felt there were players still on the board who were too talented to pass up (Floyd, Barr, Patterson, etc.).
Spielman has been quoted before saying something to the effect of "they can get LB talent deeper in the draft".
Obviously this was in the Frasier/Tomlin era of defense so that may have changed with Zimmer/Edwards. IMO, they have not had a true "impact" player at the position for over a decade.
I suspect they will seek to add CB talent via a high draft pick before they add LB talent, I think they are still a body short back there and that is probably more important than LB in today's NFL, but I could be wrong.
Winning is not a sometime thing it is an all of the time thing - Vince Lombardi
That's obviously not the level of performance the Vikings expect from him. Hopefully, he can get a handle on things. I was just watching the first quarter of the game over lunch and Kalil was really beaten badly on that sack.
NextQuestion wrote:It is amazing to me that this franchise has not bothered drafting a real MLB the last couple of years. That is going to be a huge weakness.
The true MLB position in a traditional 4-3 seems to have been devalued as the passing game has taken more prominence. Most teams are playing their nickel defense around half of the time and its usually the MLB coming out (makes sense since the more athletic guys are usually playing on the outside). Take out Luke Kuechly and there haven't been that many true MLBs drafted in the first round over the past several years.
It's also probably true that colleges aren't producing traditional MLBs like they used to. Seems like almost every college team has gone to the spread offense and the defenses have had to react accordingly.
Interesting that Zimmer (sort of) called out Pro Football Focus today in his presser:
Zimmer aired out his reservations about Pro Football Focus, a website whose data we sometimes use on this blog. While he was polite about it, the Vikings head coach made it clear he has concerns about their individual grades for players, which are done by a grader watching the coaches film. http://blog.startribune.com/sports/acce ... ball-focus
Not saying Vikings need to go 1st round with MLB but guys like NaVarro Bowman were drafted in the 3rd round. We have guys from the Frazier era who were 6th/7th round S/T caliber players
There's just been a lot of talk about the merits of the QBs, which seems pretty natural since the Vikings haven't declared a starter. 
